Democracy

In 1776 a revolution in the American colonies
led to the first modern democracy. This is a system of government which assumes
that people have rights, and that one of these is the right to choose the
government by regular, free elections. The purpose of the government is to
protect the rights of the people they govern. This was the birth of the nation
state. In the United States of America a federal system of government began in
which power was shared between the central government and the states.

Revolution spread first to France and then
through most of Europe. Nationalism, the feeling that one nation is better than
all others, grew in many of the nation states. Sovereignty was taken from the
king and given to the government, who held it on behalf of the people.